The FBI and Crow Tribe are working together to offer $10,000 for information in the disappearance of Sa’wade Birdinground, a teenage girl missing from the Crow reservation in southeastern Montana for eight months.
For its third consecutive year, the FBI has surged resources to its bureaus that serve Indian Country as part of Operation Not Forgotten, an effort in part to investigate cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.
This year’s effort doubled the number of agents working out of the Billings field office covering the nearby Crow and Northern Cheyenne tribal nations.
For the Crow Tribe, the surge means a flow of badly-needed resources to look for missing people including 13-year-old Sa’wade Birdinground who was last seen by her family in Garryowen on October 6.
Her father, Wade Birdinground, remembers the last words he heard from her.
“It was a Sunday. I was in Billings, it was kind of late and she called me to tell me goodnight and I love you, she always checks on me, and that was the last time I talked to her,” Wade Birdinground said.
On Friday, FBI agents from the Salt Lake City bureau, which covers Montana, joined Sa’wade’s family, friends and local and tribal leadership and law enforcement in Crow Agency to announce new resources in the search for Sa’Wade.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Mehtab Syed announced the FBI will offer a $5,000 reward for information that leads to her recovery.
“Eight months is an incomprehensible amount of time for a family to be without their child,” said Syed. “The FBI is fully committed to finding Sa’Wade and bringing her home. No tip is too small or insignificant.”
Crow Tribal Chairman Frank White Clay announced the tribe would match the money.
"We don't want to leave any stone unturned and we still want her to come home," White Clay said.
White Clay said the Crow tribe receives an average of 78 calls a year reporting people missing, most of whom are quickly found.
White Clay says Birdinground's case stands out due to her age, the length of time she's been missing, and the circumstances of her disappearance.
"We're still pushing on these efforts for her to come home and be reunited with her father, her grandfather, and her siblings. We're very grateful to the FBI for putting these resources out," White Clay said.
Together, FBI agents and tribal members carried red balloons on a walk around the Little Big Horn College to honor Sa’wade with hope the reward brings her home.
“I love you, I know you’re out there, I’m not giving up," Wade Birdinground said.